Synopsis

The sleepy town of Wheelsy could be any small town in America - somewhat quaint and gentle, peopled with friendly folks who mind their own business. But just beneath the surface charm, something unnamed and evil has arrived…and is growing. No one seems to notice as telephone poles become clogged with missing pet flyers, or when one of the town’s richest citizens, Grant Grant, begins to act strangely. But when farmers’ livestock turn up horribly mutilated and a young woman goes missing, Sheriff Bill Pardy and his team, aided by Grant’s wife Starla, uncover the dark force laying siege to their town…and come face-to-face with an older-than-time organism intent on absorbing and devouring all life on Earth.

Both the first installment First-run Releases and the second installment, TV on DVD releases, were shorter than I would have liked, as this hasn’t been a great year for either wide releases or TV on DVD releases. That said, the third installment of our Holiday Gift Guide deals with limited releases, classics, and foreign imports and this list can get out of hand rather quickly. There will more releases on this list than the previous two, starting with...
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It's the first of December. (At least it was when I was writing this intro the first time. I was only going to do a dozen or so releases, but the list ballooned well out of control.) This week kicks off our second annual Holiday Gift Guide with a look at some high definition releases, because nothing says holidays like a format war.
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It was a great week for new releases with three new film in the top five, including a first place finish for Nacho Libre. During the film's first week of release on DVD, it earned $7.16 million in total rentals, which put it just ahead of the second place film, The Break-Up, and its $6.93 million.
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It's a disastrous week for DVD releases with more than half a dozen of them that I rated as must have. I just don't know how I'm going to afford to buy them all, but I will. As for the DVD Pick of the Week, I was able to narrow that list down to three, but I wasn't able to decide on just one. They are, in no particular order: Slither - Buy from Amazon, Greg the Bunny- The Best of the Film Parodies - Buy from Amazon, and Degrassi The Next Generation - Season 4 - Buy from Amazon. And in the better late than never category, we have Her Best Move, which can be purchased directly from the official website. (If I've missed any other releases, don't hesitate to e-mail me and I'll try to correct that oversight as soon as possible.)
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Last minute updates in weekend numbers showed that it was The Da Vinci Code and not Poseidon grabbing the final spot in the top five. It was an exceedingly close race with the former film topping the latter by less than $3000 both with $5.68 million. The Da Vinci Code earned its box office on 4352 screens in 57 markets while Poseidon needed just 3584 in 48. On the other hand, their running tallies are worlds apart with The Da Vinci Code leading $507.68 million to $94.72 million. That film became just the 12th film to cross $500 million internationally and is less than $20 million from overtaking Finding Nemo for 10th place on the international charts.
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Scary Movie 4 opened in first place in both France and Spain, helping the film into sixth place overall with $4.89 million on 1512 screens in 22 markets for a total of $74.72 million internationally. In Spain the film made $1.76 million on 400 screens over the weekend and $1.83 million in total, while in France it brought in $3.47 million on 571 screens, but that was for the full week.
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Mission: Impossible 3 was knocked out of first place by The Da Vinci Code, but that was not a surprise to anyone. What was a surprise is the lack of staying power Mission: Impossible 3 has exhibited so far; this week the film fell a further 43% o $23.22 million on 6392 screens in 57 markets for a total of $164.32 million. Its best market of the weekend was the U.K. where it added $3.44 million on 445 screens to its total of $23.70 million. However, South Korea is close behind with $3.19 million on 330 screens for a total of $23.22 million. The film only as a few openings left and Japan is the only major player out there so unless a minor miracle happens Mission: Impossible 3 won't reach the heights that its predecessors did.
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Silent Hill's weekend numbers were better than earlier estimates and that helped place the film fourth overall with $4.99 million on 1398 screens in 11 markets. The film finished first in Russia with $1.45 million on 213 screens over the weekend and $1.61 million in total while it had to settle for second in Germany with $1.10 million on 308 screens. It also opened in second place in Hong Kong with $462,000 on 34 screens and $580,000 including the previews mentioned last week. So far the film has earned $18.92 million at the international box office, the largest single chunk coming from the U.K.; in that market the film has made $6.32 million including $439,000 on 285 screens this week.
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With Mission: Impossible 3 dominating the international charts, most films saw a serious drop-off and those that didn't were able to climb the charts, or at least remain stable. For instance, Eight Below fell 27% to $3.67 million on 1951 screens in 27 markets, but despite there being two new releases in the top five, it was able to remain in sixth place on the overall charts. The film was not able to crack $1 million in any single market, but did perform well in Spain with $587,000 on 225 screens and that lifted its total box office to $2.15 million in the market, $30.35 million internationally, and $111.42 million worldwide.
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A pair of openings in major markets helped Eight Below climb a spot to sixth with $5.05 million on 2129 screens in 24 markets for a total of $24.26 million so far. The film opened in France but could only manage sixth place with $1.85 million on 473 screens while in Spain it opened in first place, but only managed $981,000 on 224 screens. In the meantime, the film dipped just 4% during its second weekend in Australia adding $769,000 on 258 screens to its total of $2.29 million there.
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The Wild added a few more markets but still fell out of the top five down 54% to $4.37 million on 2868 screens in 27 markets for a two week total of $17.77 million. Its best market was Spain where the film was down just 43% to $875,000 on 382 screens over the weekend and $3.49 million in total. It had a hard time in family friendly Mexico where it was down 59% to $702,000 on 501 screens over the weekend and $3.60 million in total while in Italy it plummeted an unheard of 84% to just $216,000 on 343 screen for a two-week total of $2.75 million.
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A trio of new films tackle Scary Movie 4 this weekend, looking to become the next box office champ.
None of the films are winning over the critics, and one of them was not even screened, but that isn't necessarily the huge warning sign that it usually signifies.
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A trio of new films tackle Scary Movie 4 looking to become the next box office champ. None of the films are winning over the critics with one of them not even being screened, but that doesn't seem to be the huge warning sign that it usually signifies.
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Only one film mentioned in Friday's preview was able to beat expectations to any real degree, and this pushed this week's box office down 19.5% from last weekend.
However, at $114 million it was still 31.5% higher than last year, which is more important.
Even better news, 2006 has moved ahead of 2005's pace, albeit by a narrow 1% margin, meaning ticket sales are still slower than a year ago.
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For the first time in a long, long time we have a bona fides hit topping the charts. Not only did Ice Age: The Meltdown beat almost all expectations, but it single-handedly brought the 2006 box office out of its slump. The overall box office was $142 million, nearly half of which came from that one movie. This represents a 29.7% increase from last weekend and a 34% increase from last year. Year-to-date, 2006 is still behind 2005, but the deficit was cut in half to just 1%.
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We have the first event movie of the year coming out this weekend. Yes, I realize I said that whenV for Vendetta came out, but this time I mean it. In all seriousness, if Ice Age: The Meltdown doesn't have the best opening of the year, then the 2006 box office is pretty much sunk.
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Another week with less sites than I would have liked. (On a side note, it seems every time something weird happens it happens on a Thursday. This time its slight internet connection problems / memory leak. I think. Whatever it is, it's causing my computer to act really slowly.) This shorter list doesn't mean there isn't an award-worthy site and the best of the best is Over the Hedge - Official Site.
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Pretty average week with all best sites being previous award winners. The best of the rest was Silent Hill - Official Site, and even though this week's update wasn't huge, it was enough to make the overall site award-worthy.
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During the past week promotional websites for several movies were launched and some older ones added additional content. This week's winner was one of last week's best sites, She's the Man - Official Site, which added a lot of content this week including some old stuff that was off site for previous weeks.
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During the past week promotional websites for several movies were launched and some older ones added additional content. There was a three way race for top spot this week with Slither - Official Site taking home the award. However, it won based on equal parts what it is and what it should become once all the content marked coming soon is added to the site.
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This is a not as busy a month as it initially looks. Granted, there are 18 movies on this month's list, but there are five weekends, or at least five Fridays. Also, every week there's at least one film that may or may not be getting a truly wide release. Considering the level of competition, I'm leaning against any of five such films opening in more than 2000 theatres. On the plus side, we should see the first $100 million movie of 2006 open this month, and perhaps even see two movies reach that milestone.
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During the past week promotional websites for several movies were launched and some older ones added additional content. The winner this week was Curious George - Official Site, which was extremely well done, although it is aimed at a very young audience.
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During the past week promotional websites for several movies were launched and some older ones added additional content. Here the list of this week's releases, a couple of new sites and few updates, including this week's winner, Aeon Flux - Official SiteMore...

During the past week promotional websites for several movies were launched and some older ones added additional content. Here the list of this week's releases, a couple of new sites and few updates, including this week's winner, Jarhead - Official Site.
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Weekly US DVD Sales

Full financial estimates for this film, including domestic and international box office, video sales, video rentals, TV and ancillary revenue
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